The Two Loaves Of Shavuot

Transcription

1 The Two Loaves Of Shavuot Pesach (Passover) has been fulfilled. Yeshua HaMashiach freely gave Himself, to free us from the death penalty that we were all under because of our transgression and going our own way. Pesach leads directly into Chag HaMatzot, The Days of Unleavened Bread. Seven days we are to be unleavened. There is significance to the seven days; seven is YHVH s number of completion. During Chag HaMatzot, we are required to remain unleavened. We are supposed to eat unleavened bread each day, to remind us that we are to be unleavened. It is much more than just a physical requirement; there is spiritual significance to becoming unleavened. Leviticus 23:5-8 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is the Passover to.יהוה 6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to יהוה seven days you eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work. 8 And you shall bring an offering made by fire to יהוה for seven days. On the seventh day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work. What does the leaven symbolize? Becoming unleavened pictures a purification process. There are things in this physical world that enter our lives and become part of us things that separate us from Abba and the life that He desire for us. Those things, along with our transgressions, are represented during this time by leaven and we are to remove those things from our lives, that is pictured by deleavening ourselves. The first day is a High Day, a Holy Convocation, or meeting, it is a special day set apart from the others and that is because it pictures the start of the purification process, or delavening. Seven is a number that is significant to YHVH. It pictures completeness and perfection. The purification process lasted seven days. Leviticus 14:8-9 8 And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shall shave off all his hair and wash himself in water, and shall be clean. Then after that he comes into the camp, but shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 And on the seventh day it shall be that he shaves all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shaves off. And he shall wash his garments and wash his body in water, and shall be clean. The seven days of Chag HaMatzot, represent our cleansing and purification from this world and becoming set-apart. Because it is a seven day cycle, it represents the

2 completeness of a process. When we have been purified, or cleansed, we are supposed to remain in that condition and we are not to return to the condition that caused us to be unclean. We are supposed to remove the sin and those things which defile us out of our lives and it is not to return. Yisrael had to go through this cleansing process when they left Mitsrayim (Egypt), because they had been living in the midst of sin. The sin has to be removed, so that we become acceptable to YHVH. Yisrael eventually ran out of the unleavened bread that they had brought out of Mitsrayim (Egypt) with them. It was at that point, that YHVH began to feed them bread, the manna. Exodus 16: And the layer of dew went up, and see, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 And the children of Yisra ĕl saw, and they said to each other, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Mosheh said to them, It is the bread which eat. has given you to יהוה Now they were feeding only on the bread that Father provided for them. They were completely dependent on that bread that He provided to bring them life and nourishment. What did that bread represent? John 6: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me possesses everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of the heaven, so that anyone might eat of it, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of the heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever. And indeed, the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. This is a picture of the state that we are supposed to be in. We are to be unleavened and feeding on the bread that YHVH sent down to us from above, as we approach Shavuot and that is important! Shavuot represents an amazing event in YHVH s plan! Leviticus 23: And from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: seven completed Sabbaths. 16 Until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath you count fifty days, then you shall bring a new grain offering to.יהוה 17 Bring from your dwellings for a wave offering two loaves of bread, of two-tenths 18.יהוה of an ĕphah of fine flour they are, baked with leaven, first-fruits to And besides the bread, you shall bring seven lambs a year old, perfect ones,

3 and one young bull and two rams. They are a burnt offering to,יהוה with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet fragrance to.יהוה 19 And you shall offer one male goat as a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old, as a peace offering. 20 And the priest shall wave them, besides the bread of the first-fruits, as a wave offering before,יהוה besides the two lambs. They are set-apart to יהוה for the priest. 21 And on this same day you shall proclaim a set-apart gathering for yourselves, you do no servile work on it a law forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Unlike the other Appointed Times, Shavuot has no fixed date that it is to be observed on. The day to observe Shavuot must be determined by counting. The count begins on the day after the wave sheaf was offered during Chag HaMatzot. It is a straight count out of fifty days from the day after the wave sheaf was offered to determine Shavuot and seven Shabbats must be completed. That is important too. Deuteronomy 16: Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain (When did they put the sickle to the grain? When they harvested the sheaf for the wave sheaf offering). 10 And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to יהוה your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as יהוה your Elohim blesses you. 11 And you shall rejoice before יהוה your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Lĕwite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Mitsrayim, and you shall guard and do these laws (We also need to always keep in mind that we were in spiritual Egypt, or sin and Father rescued us and freed us from that). So, seven complete weeks seven weeks of Shabbats must be complete to bring us to Shavuot. Then it is the day after the seventh Shabbat that marks Shavuot, it is the fiftieth day. There are some very interesting things here to look at. There are seven complete weeks, so another cycle or process is being pictured. The cycle or process being pictured here has to do with the harvest. Shavuot coincides with the first harvest in Yisrael. This is the time of year when they are reaping in the firstfruits from the fields, the firstfruits of their labor. This period of time between the wave sheaf and Shavuot is the time that the grain grew and matured until it was ready for harvest. That is exactly the process that is being pictured here for the people of YHVH, the firstfruits of those who will be born into YHVH s Kingdom! Shavuot is harvest day, the day of resurrection for the firstfruits of YHVH. This is where we are in the Plan of YHVH right now, at this time. We are

4 ripening and maturing and preparing for that day that is not too far off now when we will become the firstfruits! There is also another event spoken of in scripture that parallels the count to Shavuot. Every fifty years there was a very special celebration for Yisrael. It was a great day of liberation and freedom and release from the things that had bound them. Leviticus 25: And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 You shall then sound a ram s horn to pass through on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement cause a ram s horn to pass through all your land. 10 And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, and proclaim release throughout all the land to all its inhabitants (this is very important, because it gives us insight into what will take place in the Jubilee in the future), it is a Jubilee for you. And each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you return to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year is a Jubilee to you. Do not sow, nor reap what grows of its own, nor gather from its unpruned vine. 12 It is a Jubilee, it is set-apart to you. Eat from the field its crops. 13 In the Year of this Jubilee let each one of you return to his possession. 14 And when you sell whatever to your neighbor or buy from the hand of your neighbor, do not exploit one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he sells to you. 16 According to the greater number of years you increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you diminish its price, because he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17 And do not oppress one another, but you shall fear your Elohim. For I am יהוה your Elohim. The Jubilee pictures freedom and release, it was a huge celebration for Yisrael. It also points to a future event. Why was the Jubilee connected with the Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement? Yom Kippur is a picture of YHVH s people becoming one with Yeshua. From that we can determine that Yeshua will likely return in a Jubilee year! Let s return to the wave sheaf. What was the wave sheaf for? Leviticus 23: And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, 10 Speak to the children of Yisra ĕl, and you shall say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before,יהוה for your acceptance. On the morrow after the Sabbath the priest waves it. 12 And on that day when you wave the sheaf, you shall prepare a male lamb a year old, a perfect one, as a burnt offering to,יהוה 13 and its grain offering: two-

5 tenths of an ĕphah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to wine. 14 a sweet fragrance, and its drink offering: one-fourth of a hin of,יהוה And you do not eat bread or roasted grain or fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your Elohim a law forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. The wave sheaf was to be an offering of the firstfruits of the harvest. They were not allowed to eat any of the grain of the first harvest, until after this offering was made. What did the wave sheaf represent? 1 Corinthians 15:20 20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the firstfruit of those having fallen asleep. Who or what did the wave sheaf represent? Who is THE firstfruit? Yeshua! He is the firstfruits of all who will be born into YHVH s Kingdom! What about the two loaves of bread that were a wave offering on Shavuot? What could those loaves represent? Leviticus 23:17 17 Bring from your dwellings for a wave offering two loaves of bread, of two-tenths of an ĕphah of fine flour they are, baked with leaven, first-fruits.יהוה to Notice that these loaves are also a firstfruit offering. If the wave sheaf represented Yeshua ascending to the Father, then what do these two wave loaves represent? Why were the two loaves to be leavened? None of the normal grain offerings were ever to contain leaven. Leviticus 2:11 11 No grain offering which you bring to יהוה is made with leaven, for you do not burn any leaven or any honey in an offering to יהוה made by fire. YHVH specifically told Yisrael to leaven the loaves that were to be offered and also notice that these loaves were to come from the people. The loaves were to come from their own dwellings! What did the leaven in these loaves represent? John 6: Therefore יהושע said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Mosheh did not give you the bread out of the heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread out of the heaven. 33 For the bread of Elohim is He who comes down out of the heaven and gives life to the world. 34 So they said to Him, Master, give us this bread always.

6 When YHVH brought Yisrael out of Mitsrayim, they were deleavened and then He began to feed them on manna which He provided for them. The manna represented the Word, Yeshua, that was going to come down with the bread of life in the future. The leaven in the loaves represented the people being leavened with the true Word, the bread of life, after they had been deleavened and purified from the world. If the wave sheaf represented Yeshua rising up to the Father, do the loaves represent something ascending as well? If these leavened loaves came from the people themselves and they were also called firstfruits to YHVH, what do the loaves picture? The resurrection and transformation of the set-apart ones! The loaves picture those who rise to meet Yeshua and are changed and enter the Kingdom! It is those who have been prepared, who have responded to Father s call and deleavened themselves of this world, it ways and separated themselves. It is those who have leavened themselves with the Word of YHVH, the bread of life and the Word who came in the flesh Yeshua, and have made themselves clean and undefiled. 1 Thessalonians 4: Now, brothers, we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you be sad as others who have no expectation. 14 For if we believe that יהושע died and rose again, so also Elohim shall bring with Him those who sleep in.יהושע 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Master, that we, the living who are left over at the coming of the Master shall in no way go before those who are asleep. 16 Because the Master Himself shall come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of a chief messenger, and with the trumpet of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. 17 Then we, the living who are left over, shall be caught away together with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air and so we shall always be with the Master. 18 So, then, encourage one another with these words. 1 Corinthians 15: And this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood is unable to inherit the reign of Elohim, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 See, I speak a secret to you: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible has to put on incorruption, and this mortal to put on immortality. 54 And when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall come to be the word that has been written, Death is swallowed up in overcoming. 55 O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your overcoming? 56 And the sting of death is the sin, and the power of the sin is the Torah. 57 But thanks to Elohim who gives us the overcoming through our Master יהושע Messiah. 58 Therefore,

7 my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Master, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Master. The people of YHVH will be here through the tribulation. There is no secret rapture and there is no avoiding what is coming upon this world. The people of YHVH are promised protection and they will be removed before the wrath of Elohim is poured out on the wicked and incorrigible at the end. Revelation 15:2-4 2 And I saw like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those overcoming the beast and his image and his mark and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of Elohim. 3 And they sing the song of Mosheh the servant of Elohim, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Your works, יהוה Ěl Shaddai! Righteous and true are Your,יהוה ways, O Sovereign of the set-apart ones! 4 Who shall not fear You, O and esteem Your Name? Because You alone are kind. Because all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteousnesses have been made manifest. Father tells us to celebrate on this day for a good reason! This is the day that we will be changed and the time that we will rise to meet Yeshua, or we will be raised up from where we lie, if we are no longer physically upon this earth. This is our day of victory! This is the day when the second death will have no power over us. This is the day we will be transformed and take on the glorious spiritual bodies that will be given to us. These are the things that we need to hold on to in the coming weeks and months and whatever years we have left. This is what YHVH has in store and waiting for us. This is the meaning and the picture, of the two loaves of Shavuot. Copyright 2011 Jeff L Mills